


Happy ever after is never simple...

by ZPaladin



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: (Partly inspired by the climax of Dragon's Dogma), Alternate Universe: Fantasy, Blood, M/M, Mild Gore, Tiencha Day, amputations, referenced nudity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-08
Updated: 2016-10-08
Packaged: 2018-08-20 07:20:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8241113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZPaladin/pseuds/ZPaladin
Summary: What could a Bandit acquire with the gold on offer? Women? Land? Enough weapons to fell a nation? No...That was not his aim. His aim was love...Soon  word would spread of him and he could find his own true love...All he needed to do,was slay one dragon...





	

He stood before the dank ruin,the rice fields that had resided around it picked clean of its crop with Three-toes prints deep in the mud. He took a few steps from the water onto the stones of the former keep,each one shifting on mud and mortar. The old fort was surprisingly well lit despite its decrepit state,as if attended by an unseen servant. As the bandit crept inward,the smells were less rank and actually became quite pleasant, mint and lavender wavering his low set dread. The bounty said dragon, and this hardly felt like the den of a beast as foul as such. The atmosphere that had grown so light dropped to a deep darkness as he could see blood along the floor of the former stronghold.It thickened as the bandit moved in,the smells of lavender and mint mixing with the heavy stench. A tattered curtain obscured the hall’s end,the stairway behind him seeming pristine in comparison to the moldy, crumbling archway before him. Drawing his scimitar,he ripped down the curtain and pointed the curved blade forward...There was no dragon. Instead,on a large,bloodied chair, was a man adorned in a feathered cloak and cowl, it was half tattered with blood staining the area around the wearer’s ribs,the broken rods of arrows protruding from the fabric.  
“Mind me not,hero. I have not what you seek.” The wearer sighed as they dressed wounds covered by the cloak. “Your dragon is no more…”  
“Then who are you?” The bandit asked.  
“I was called Tien Shinhan,though it seems an eternity past...” The cloak wearer said as he tugged the hood further over his face. “I suggest you begone before the darkness of this place swallows you as it has me...” The man looked into the fireplace,the embers alight with a supernatural green flame to them. His despair lined what features Yamcha could see,his mouth skewed with pain and his body tensed .  
“Is it the Dragon that binds you here, Tien?” The bandit asked as he looked around the tall room, ready to fight.  
“Does dust clot your ears boy? The Dragon is not here!” Tien snapped as he rose from his chair. He clutched his side,agony lacing his face before lowering himself back down,the hood of his cloak falling defeated to his back. He turned his head in anguish,an eye rested in the center of the man’s forehead, the iris surrounding it an amber red.  
“Tell me now, Yamcha of Twisting sands, where do you see your dragon?”  
The eye pierced him,like the unwavering gaze of a crane...His body was stiffened at his glare.  
“H-How do you know my name?” The bandit asked,wary of the man in his presence.  
“I live in a ruin,not under a rock.” Tien replied. “Come to take the heart of the dragon for the heart of a maiden. A barter of hearts is an uneven trade…No two lives are worth one,be it beast or beauty.”  
Yamcha couldn’t help but hang his head and drop his blade back into its sheath. Tien stood again,reaching for the herbs boiling in a kettle above the flame. He clutched his ribs once more before falling into the cushion again...he looked utterly miserable… Yamcha put his sword and scabbard against the wall before moving to retrieve the kettle for the chair ridden man.  
“You needn't wait on me…” The man groaned as the tea was poured.  
“Am I not your guest?” Yamcha replied as he put kettle back on its rack.  
“I suppose you are...Although uninvited…” Tien sighed in acceptance. Despite his harsh tone and hatred of pity,he was glad to have the vagabond’s company,and Yamcha felt it. The way he felt into his seat was indicative,most people would have had the bandit leave,by force if necessary. Soon,the bandit had no intent on leaving,wishing to see his host’s wounds healed and all disrespects repaid….Then the sun lowered itself…

 

“You have done me a great service,but you must leave me now…” Tien said with a grim tone,his smiling bandit’s face slowly lowering to a frown. “The witching hour draws nearer...A prime time for the dragon you seek...It will surely kill you…”  
“Wait...You said the Dragon was dead…” The bandit snipped as he stood up cautiously from the spare chair he had let himself fall in.  
“You misunderstand. I said it was not here…”  
“What is it then? No more,or not here?”  
“Dragons are complicated and fickle things,now if you would!” Tien snapped as he motioned to the restored curtains...Yamcha looked to his host’s hand,the fingers seeming to elongate and a bit of bone began to jut from his wrist with a similar one to jutting from his elbow. Tien quickly grabbed his arm and threw his cape around himself fully.He turned his back to Yamcha before throwing his sword to him.  
“Take your steel and leave his cursed place...I was a fool to let you stay this long.” Tien rambled as his body seemed to quiver and his cloak bulged and shrunk in rapid intervals .Yamcha approached hesitant as he picked up his blade only to be scolded once more by the frantic man.  
“You fool! Leave this place!” He snapped,turning to face him,his eyes frenzied and glazed with red. He was hunched forward, his cloak and body seeming to meld into one as the line between flesh and feather thinned,a long mass of flesh falling to the floor from the bottom of the cloak. Claws burst from fingers and wings from arms,his teeth filing to a pint as his jaw pulled forward into a meld of beak and maw. “RUN YOU FOOL!!!” Was all he could lose before his neck burst forward in a shower of feathers,finishing the transformation.  
Yamcha looked into the eyes of the beast,the dark irises of Tien hidden behind the red tint of his curse. He could see it now, the tragedy that was cloaked before him this whole time. The dragon was still as it looked to the man who once sought it dead, unblinking as it moved its head around Yamcha. Did it still remember? Does it retain its human soul beyond the feathers jutting from its flesh? Yamcha put out his hand slowly in an attempt to koak the human resting inside the beast to awaken once more. The creature backed up with a snip of its jaws, looking frenzied and panicked. Yamcha couldn’t raise his blade against it, it was still Tien, he knew it was! He knew not what force compelled him to that man, but it was not the force of bravado that pulled him in...Or was it? He had came to slay a beast for the love of a maiden, what difference would it be to slay a beast for a man?

 

“Tien! I don’t want to hurt you!” Yamcha called as the beast reared up. “B-But...If that will free you…” He held the handle of his blade with a shaking hand as he let the words fall in a whisper, his will wavering as he looked to the bloodied monster that was against the wall of the broken keep. As the steel reflected light at the beast,it ran at,and then past him. Yamcha cried from the former man as he gave chase,getting a hold of the beast’s tail as it rushed up the winding staircase. They ascended from the stairs and beyond,winding into the sky at a rapid speed. Clutching feathers for dear life,Yamcha climbed the creature.  
“Tien! I know you’re still in there!” He cried as he ascended. Never in his life did he feel this rush, this surge of blood in his veins. His heart, his very essence was brimming with will. He would save this man from himself and those who would hunt him as he had wished too. He called his name again as they lowered beneath the clouds,the voices of man screaming up after them. Soon the arrows came,piercing the creature’s underbelly and limbs. Many an arrow pierced it’s wing,but it continued its flight undeterred. It circled ‘round,swooping down to take a man into his jaws. The man was flung from the maw and past Yamcha.  
“TIEN! STOP IT!” Yamcha screamed as more and more men flew past him and he climbed farther up the beast. He reached between the shoulders, arrows nearly piercing him a vast number of times. Yamcha climbed with a newfound vigor, even as arrows began to meet his leg. The beast made way from the men it attacked, letting itself ascend higher as it gazed to the crescent moon before them. Yamcha was baffled by the sight,the massive stone in the sky shining brighter than any gemstone he pilfered. The stars around them irradiated a new feeling, peace. No arrows tried to reach them and no rage seemed to fill the beast he had mounted.  
“Tien? Can you hear me?”  
No reply from the dragon.  
“Tien,please…” Yamcha said lowly as he pulled at the skin beneath the feathers. He felt tears rush down his face and meet the flesh of his mount. He heard a sizzle as he soon felt the dragon shift in discomfort. It let loose a roar as Yamcha let his tears fall to the flesh like rain to the sands. He felt his hands lower,his eyes opening slightly. The flesh of the creature was falling away with a foul smell and bursts of blood. Beneath the newly rotting flesh, a second layer of flesh made it’s way to the surface,much brighter than the pale layer before it with the tears rolling from the curves of the flesh. The decay advanced toward the beast’s head,roaring and snarling in protest as more and more of it fell away. Yamcha looked to the bloodied figure hidden beneath the beast’s flesh, he pulled away at the flesh as more and more features came to light,revealing the bloodied,unconscious Tien Shinhan. Not once did Yamcha think of his own life as he pulled at Tien’s,now bare, torso. The man’s eyes flickered open as the whole of the dragon’s skin was decayed,its bones snapping and fading to dust.  
The section Yamcha had clung to broke away fully,leading him and his charge began to plummet to the Earth.

“Tien! Open your eyes!” Yamcha screamed as he leaned to his ally in free fall. “Tien!”  
Tien’s eyes fluttered open as Yamcha drew closer, and widened short after in shock.  
“Y-Yamcha?” He stammered as he attempted to right himself...He caught a look at his hands,his expression looking a mixture of utter happiness and confused terror. He soon met Yamcha as they pierced the clouds. Tien instinctively wrapped his arms around Yamcha,who found himself blushing. Tien’s face was wet with tears,a smile across his face. He gave a laugh as they descended,rolling and spiraling through the clouds,Yamcha soon joining his laugher.  
“A-And to think,now we’re gonna die.” Yamcha added,his own face teary and red.  
“No,we’re going to live!” Tien declared with certainty. He repeated it again before breaking out into laughter again.Tien’s face was full of excitement and wonder, the stoic mask he wore in the ruins broken away like the dragon’s hide...It was terrifying to see this overcome him,like a wave of madness had struck him in their descent.He caught Yamcha’s worried gaze,the bandit wrapped around Tien defensively and rather tightly.  
“If the gods brought you to me,then they will ensure our union.” The man reassured with an almost gleeful assurance. Tien held him closer,but not in a defensive embrace. It was warm and pleasant,his ecstatic heart syncing with Yamcha’s own,though his pounded half in terror of the height. Soon, the soils of the Earth came to full view,a void of blue emerging dead below them. Before any could reach,they met the waves in a mighty splash...They were shaken,but alive.

 

They pulled themselves from the water one after the next,Yamcha clinging to Tien as he was blinded by his own hair. Tien parted it for him before planting his lips on Yamcha’s...It had only been one day,yet that kiss seemed like eternity,the leaves of the nearby oaks swirling in the waters around them. If fate had seen them together,they were quite the odd match maker. Then Yamcha felt it,a pain shooting up from his leg only amplified by the mirk and grime of the water. Tien pulled Yamcha to shore,both doing their best to maneuver past any further irritants. The water was growing bloody as the rods of the arrows snagged on loose branches and their heads twisted in the bandit’s flesh. As Yamcha met the shoreline,he got to take a proper look at his arrow filled leg. One arrow pierced clean through the knee,making it beyond use or healing. The other arrows had broken through bones with relative ease...Yamcha would either die,or lose the leg.  
“Tien,grab my sword…” He spat through groans of pain. Tien gave hims a worried look as he looked to the scabbard. “Don’t worry about me,just give me my sword.”  
Tien rose from the water in full to retrieve it,revealing that the transformation did not spare his pants. Covering his extremities,Tien grabbed the sword from its sheath before moving to give it to his fallen companion.  
“Thank you...Now comes the tricky part…” Yamcha said before angling the sword just above the highest arrow. Closing his eyes,he lowered it swiftly to the appendage in a scream of pain. Tien couldn’t stand seeing Yamcha so low,he reached to do whatever he could to help but no ideas came to mind. Yamcha pointed to the removed section of his leg,having rolled down the bank to the water’s edge, “Give it here” he demanded through gritted teeth. Tien took the limb by the foot and handed it to its former owner. Yamcha took the cloths and leathers from the lower section of his trousers to cover and seal the wound,using the laces of the boot to keep it in place. He threw the arrow riddled half of his right leg to the lake,before looking to Tien,whose face was askew with disbelief.  
“Y-You idiot! There’s not an apothecary for miles! We’re in the middle of nowhere!” He spat as he recovered from the initial shock,his face akin to a worried mother. “You could get an infection! You could-”  
“TIEN!” Yamcha shouted,getting the attention of the three eyed man. He pointed to the east,a village clearly visible a ways away.  
“I saw it on the way down,now can you lend me a hand?” Yamcha put his hand out with a smile as he tried his damndest to hold in a brewing bad joke…Tien took his hand,and then his working leg, holding him bridal style and soaking wet.  
“T-Tien,I can walk,I just need you to prop me up.” Yamcha sputtered as Tien started to walk with him in his arms. “Come on,put me down.”  
Yamcha continued his protest,even as Tien quickened his pace. His feet were riddled with rocks,leaves and twigs, and by the time they reached the village,they were bloodied and his legs were burned from exertion. He managed to drag himself and his charge to the tavern,knocking the doors open with his bare shoulder.  
“Does anyone know where the apothecary is?” He announced on entry, the eyes of the patrons all snapping to him. Male patrons rushed out the door, assuring they would bring the healer to them,while the female patrons blushed at the presence of the two. The blond bar maid opened up and area for the men as the tavern’s blue haired mistral came to investigate.  
“The apothecary should get here soon...I-I’ll get some clothes…” She stammered as she placed her lute upon the bar. The barmaid gave the flagon she was cleaning a spit before addressing the two strangers.  
“Korin’ll get that leg fixed in no time flat.” She assured as she rubbed the cup down. “But if the pain’s to much now, I can get ya a drink.”  
“S-Sorry...I-I don’t drink….” Yamcha said with raised shoulders and a flush face. “I-I mean, I appreciate the offer ma'am, but I-”  
“He’s fine...Just tired.” Tien interrupted as Yamcha showed no sign of stopping him murmuring.  
“How ‘bout you,big guy?” She added as she leaned over the bar. Tien flushed as red as Yamcha as he quickly re-covered himself. “I’m fine as well,thank you.”

The minstrel returned with a tunic and some trousers just as the portly apothecary Korin entered the tavern with his equally stout aide.  
“Y-You can use the back room to get changed…” The minstrel opened a door and motioned in,Tien quickly getting up to change. She returned to the bar to take up her lute again,the barmaid whispering to her as she started to blush. The doctor asked a few simple questions,  
“How’d you lose the leg?”, “How long were you in the lake?”, “Do you still have the lower half?”.  
The last one was rather odd,but Yamcha answered all in truth,the doctor nodding his head as Yajirobe,his aide,took down some notes. Korin pulled one bean from a jar at his hip and handed it to Yamcha with a smile.  
“You’re lucky,I’m almost out of these. I tell you,the people here go through these like sweets.”  
Yamcha smiled back before popping the bean in his mouth and chewing, as the ground paste slid down his throat,he felt the open flesh of his leg pull and stretch around the wound,folding and merging over just where the knee would have been. He looked in utter disbelief from the healed leg to the good doctor, who gave a smile as he stood up...Then Tien burst in,freshly clothed and worried sick… Yamcha smiled at him before lifting up the nub,tien letting out a sigh of relief. The doctor gave a smile to Tien before he left with his aide,the two men hugging and eventually kissing in that little tavern in that little village with little a thought of the future,but they couldn’t help but be happy as three little words fell from their mouths.  
**_“I love you.”_**

**Author's Note:**

> I am so sorry if the ending feels rushed and if you think the title sucks...   
> This is my longest fic ever written, even out of the fantasy au on tumblr.


End file.
